The EQ interview finding employees high emotional intelligence part 18 pptx

• Describe a time when you received feedback about
your performance and you disagreed with that
feedback. What did you disagree with?
• Was there ever a time when you initially disagreed
with feedback you received and later came to accept
it? Tell me about that.
• Were you ever surprised by criticism you received?
What was the criticism and why were you surprised?
• What has been a consistent strength of yours? What
evidence do you have that this is an area in which
you are strong?
• What has been a consistent area of development for
you? How do you know that this is an area of
development for you?
• List three things you have learned about yourself in
the last year that are relevant to the way you work.
How did you learn this information? Describe a time
when you used this new information.
Self-Control or Self-Management
Emotional • Describe some things that make you angry or
Expression frustrated at work. Tell me what you do in those
situations.
• Describe some types of situations where you are
likely to get annoyed at work. What do you do when
you get annoyed?
• Tell me about a time when you were angry with
someone at work. What did you do?
• Has there ever been a situation at work where you
said something and later regretted saying it? Tell me
about that.
• Tell me about a time when you lost your temper at

work. What did you do? What result did this have?
• Tell me about a time when you had too much to do
at work and it was causing you to feel stressed. What
did you do?
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• What do you do when you are feeling stressed at
work?
• Describe a stressful situation at work. What do you
do?
• Describe a situation at work when you were very
enthusiastic about something. How did your
enthusiasm affect others?
• Describe a time when you felt excited about work.
• When do you look forward to going to work?
• Was there ever a time at work when you had to
temper your enthusiasm for something?
• Describe a time when you felt grateful at work. What
did you do?
• Give me an example of when you expressed
gratitude toward someone at work.
Courage or • Tell me about a time when you spoke up about
Assertiveness something in the workplace. What was the issue?
Why did you speak up about it? What did you say?
What did others think?
• Has there ever been a situation at work where you
wish you had said something in a meeting or
encounter but didn’t? Tell me about that.
• Describe what you did the last time someone blamed
you for something at work that wasn’t your fault.
What did you do?

• Describe a time when you were right and you knew
you were right, but the other party (customer,
coworker, your boss) at work didn’t believe you.
What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you felt something was
unfair at work. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you knew that you were
told to do something that you thought wasn’t a
good idea. What did you do?
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For managers or leaders:
• Tell me about a time when you disagreed about the
direction of the company or a policy. What did you
do?
• Describe a time when you and a peer were at odds
about a particular decision or direction. What did
you do?
• Tell me about a time when your boss had a particular
opinion that differed from yours. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a goal
that you were told to achieve. How did that go?
• Describe a difficult performance discussion that you
had with an employee.
• Tell me about a time when you decided not to
discuss an issue with an employee. What did you
consider?
Resilience • Tell me about a time when you felt that you were
defeated at work. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you were distracted or
preoccupied about something. What did you do?

• Tell me about a time when you felt like giving up on
something. What did you do?
• Describe a time when you didn’t think things could
get any worse, and then they did. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you decided to give up
on a goal.
• Tell me about a time when you were overwhelmed at
your last job. How often does that occur? What do
you do about it?
• Talk about the last time you were criticized at work.
How did that go?
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Awareness in • Tell me about a time when you realized that a
the Moment conversation wasn’t going very well. (Is the
candidate able to realize during the situation the
dynamics of the situation?) What did you do?
(Is the candidate able to redirect the conversation
for a better outcome?)
• Tell me about a time when you realized that you
weren’t speaking up during a meeting. What did you
do?
• Tell me about a time when you realized that
something was best left unsaid. What did you do?
Planning Tone • Tell me about a time when you deliberately planned
the tone of a particular conversation. (This indicates
that the candidate is aware that tone affects
outcome.) How did you do that? (This indicates
skill.) What result did it have?
• In your present job, can you tell me about some
situations when you must think about how you are

going to say something before saying it? What must
you consider?
• Tell me about a time when you planned the way you
phrased a problem or situation so that you could get
the best result.
• Tell me about a time when you missed an
opportunity to set the tone in a discussion. What
happened?
Empathy
Respectful • Think about a time when you didn’t understand
Listening something in the workplace. What did you do?
• Describe a situation when you didn’t understand why
someone was acting a certain way or taking a certain
position on some issue? What did you do?
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• Describe a time when you jumped to conclusions.
• Tell me about a conversation with a coworker,
employee, or customer that didn’t go very well.
What specifically occurred?
For managers or leaders:
• Tell me about a time when you learned something
by listening to an employee.
• Describe a time when you asked someone for
information about a problem.
Feeling the • Tell me about a situation when you sensed
Impact on something was bothering a peer or coworker. How
Others did you know? What did you do?
• Describe a situation when you knew that something
was wrong with a relationship you had with a peer,
customer, or supervisor. What did you do?

• Relate a situation in which you determined that
something that you did or said didn’t go over very
well. How did you know?
• Describe a time when you said something or did
something that had a negative effect on someone.
• Describe a time when you did or said something that
had a negative effect on someone and you were
unaware of it until someone else brought it to your
attention.
For managers or leaders:
• Tell me about a time when you sensed that an
employee was struggling. How did you know? What
did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you noticed that your
staff was overwhelmed. How did you know? What
did you do?
168 THE EQ INTERVIEW
• Describe a time when a change you were imple-
menting caused stress for your staff. How did you
know? What did you do?
Service • Tell me about a time when you offered assistance to
Orientation someone without being asked. What did you do?
• Describe a situation when you offered assistance to
someone even though it was outside of your job
description. What did you do?
• Relate an instance when someone needed help and
you couldn’t help him. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you recognized that
someone needed help. What did you do?
• Describe a situation when you were asked to help

someone at work. What did you think about that?
• Was there ever a time when you resented helping
someone at work? Tell me about that.
For the manager or leader:
• Tell me about a time when an employee was
struggling. What did you do?
Social Expertness
Building • Who are some key people within your organization
Relationships who you currently must work with on a regular basis
to get your work done? Describe your relationship
with these people.
• Describe your present responsibility for building and
maintaining relationships at work. Whom do you
build relationships with? How? Why?
• Tell me about a time when you were able to get
something done at work because of a relationship
you had with another person.
QUESTIONS BY AREA AND COMPETENCIES 169
• Tell me about some of the people whom you have to
work with on a regular basis that you find difficult to
get along with. What have you done to build
stronger relationships with these people?
• Tell me about a situation when you “won someone
over” at work. What did you do?
• Tell me about someone who is resistant to you. What
did you do?
• Tell me about your relationship with your manager.
What works well? What would you like to see
improved?
• What do you do that makes you a good follower?

Collaboration • Tell me how you recently solved a work problem.
What process did you use?
• Describe a time when you had to solve a problem
that involved or affected other people within the
company. How did you solve it?
• Have you ever implemented an idea or solved a
problem and had your solution meet with resistance?
What do you think you could have done to avoid the
resistance?
• Describe a time when you sought someone’s ideas or
opinions about a project or idea you were working
on.
• Was there ever a time when you rejected someone’s
idea or opinion about a project? Tell me about that?
• Tell me about a time when you offered your idea or
opinion to someone.
• Describe a time when your input improved
someone’s work.
• Have you ever offered an idea or opinion at work
and had nothing to gain from it? Tell me about that.
170 THE EQ INTERVIEW
Conflict • Tell me about a dispute with a peer. What was it
Resolution about? What did you do? How did it end up?
• Tell me about a time when someone suggested
something that you disagreed with. What did you
say?
• How have you resolved differences with peers or
others? Tell me about the process you use to resolve
your differences.
• Have you ever encountered someone at work who

was unreasonable? What did you do?
For managers or leaders:
• Tell me about a time when there was a dispute
between two coworkers. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with
an employee. What did you do? How was it
resolved?
• Describe a time when someone felt that you were
unfair. What did you do?
• Relate an incident when someone verbally attacked
you about something you said or did. What did you
do?
Organizational • Did you ever have an opportunity to advance a new
Savvy idea at your last job? How did you go about doing
that?
• Tell me about a time when you gained support for
an idea that you had. How did you do that? Why
was this idea important to you?
• Describe a time when you couldn’t get support for
an idea that you had. What happened? Why was this
idea important to you?
• Within your present position, what happens when
you run into someone who isn’t supporting your
efforts to get things done? Describe what you do.
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• Have you ever had someone undermine your efforts?
What did you do?
• How can you tell who makes decisions in your
organization?
• Tell me about a time when you needed support from

peers in order to get an idea across. How did you
gain that support? Why was it important to you to
get that particular idea or initiative accomplished?
Personal Influence—Influencing Self
Self-Confidence • Tell me about a time when you took on a task
that you considered “out of your comfort zone.”
How did you feel? Why did you do it? Did you
think you were going to succeed or fail?
• If you were going to try to persuade me regarding
something, how would you do it?
• Describe a time when you interjected a different
point of view or a different side of an issue. How did
you go about doing that?
• Tell me about a time when you were confident
enough to disagree with something or someone.
• Tell me about your strengths. How do you know they
are your strengths? How do you measure your
strengths? What feedback have you gotten that
indicates that this quality is a strength?
• Tell me about a time that you were concerned about
being successful at a task or you thought you were
going to fail. What did you do?
• When do you typically ask for assistance? Describe
the last time you asked for help on something.
• How do you think you’re going to perform at this
job?
172 THE EQ INTERVIEW
For managers and leaders:
• Tell me about a time when you had to implement a
change. What did you say to your staff? How did you

convince them to follow you?
• Tell me about a time when you had to lead others in
a certain direction and you had some doubts. What
did you do? What did you say?
• Have you ever experienced a time when others
questioned your ability to lead? Tell me about that.
What did you do?
Initiative and • Tell me about a time when you decided on your
Accountability own that something needed to be done. What did
you do?
• Describe a time when you did more than was
required on your job. How did you feel about that?
• Have you ever made any improvements to your work
without being asked? Give me some examples. How
did you do it?
• When you perform your present job, have you ever
thought about a way to improve the quality of the
product or service that you provide? Tell me about
that.
• Have you ever come up with a way to cut costs in
your present position? What did that entail? How did
you go about doing it?
• Have you ever thought of a way to perform your
present job in less time? What did you do about it?
• Tell me about a time when something you did
resulted in a change for your department or area.
How did you go about doing it? How did you feel
about that?
• Have you ever taken the initiative to do something
that didn’t work out? Describe that situation. What

did you do? How did you feel about that?
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